'''Walter Lippmann'''<ref> His name is often misspelled with only one 'N'.</ref> (1889 - 1974), was an American journalist and commentator. Starting as a socialist he moved steadily to the right throughout his career, and was a conservative critic of the [[New Deal]]. He was the most influential journalist in America from the 1920s to the 1960s because of his honesty and fairness, his forceful writing style, his relationship with major politicians, and - despite his changing views - his conservatism and belief in using the balance of power as a means for maintaining peace. Although he was a member of the inner cirlcle of the "establishment," he opposed every president from Theodore Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. [[File:Lippman-Time.jpg|thumb|290px|''Time'' magazine Mar. 30, 1931 ''note the misspelling!'' [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,741342,00.html read the cover story]]]

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{{Infobox person

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| name = Walter Lippmann

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| image = Walter Lippmann.jpg

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| birth_date = September 23, 1889

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| birth_place = New York City

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| death_date = December 14, 1974

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| death_place = New York City

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| nationality = American

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| spouse = Faye Albertson<br />

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Helen Byrne Armstrong<ref>[http://www.nndb.com/people/236/000044104/ Walter Lippmann]</ref><ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/books/the-biographer-as-detective-what-walter-lippmann-prefered-to-forget.html?pagewanted=all THE BIOGRAPHER AS DETECTIVE: WHAT WALTER LIPPMANN PREFERED TO FORGET], [[The New York Times]]</ref>

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| religion = [[Judaism]] (not practicing)<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/21/books/the-biographer-as-detective-what-walter-lippmann-prefered-to-forget.html THE BIOGRAPHER AS DETECTIVE: WHAT WALTER LIPPMANN PREFERED TO FORGET], [[The New York Times]]</ref>

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}}

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'''Walter Lippmann'''<ref>His name is often misspelled with only one 'N'--as for example the ''Time'' cover shown here.</ref> (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974), was an influential<ref>Lippmann is widely regarded as “the most influential journalist in American history.” Jacqueline Foertsch, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=mao9DJoAlhAC American Culture in the 1940s]'' (Edinburgh University Press, 2008) ISBN 0748624139, p. 56</ref> American journalist and commentator.

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Lippmann was a prominent [[socialist]] from his youth, becoming president of the [[Harvard University|Harvard]] Socialist Club and a member of the Executive Committee of the [[Intercollegiate Socialist Society]]. He graduated from Harvard in 1910, but took his socialism with him into his journalism, joining the Socialist Party and the Socialist Press Club.<ref>"Joined the Harvard Socialist Club and later became president... Elected to Executive Committee, [http://books.google.com/books?id=2v9aAAAAMAAJ Intercollegiate Socialist Society]... Joined [http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Download/9034000C.rtf the Socialist Party], New York County, and the Socialist Press Club of New York City." (2003) Twentieth-Century American Politics and Diplomacy, [http://microformguides.gale.com/Data/Download/9034000C.rtf Series 1, The Walter Lippmann Papers, Part 4: Early Papers, 1904-1920] (Manuscript and Archives Division, Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut), pp. 8-9</ref> More than 20 years later, with the election of President [[Franklin Roosevelt]], Lippmann apparently lost faith in the [[Constitution]], telling FDR, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";<ref>Thomas Griffith, “[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,924464,00.html NEWSWATCH: Comrade of the Powerful],” ''Time'', September 15, 1980</ref> in his column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it&mdash;is essential."<ref>Russell Baker, “[http://www.nybooks.com/articles/22273 A Revolutionary President], ''The New York Review of Books'', Vol. 56, No. 2 (February 12, 2009)</ref>

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Lippmann retained his socialist sympathies even in the midst of the [[Nazi-Soviet Pact]], when "WJL" [Walter J. Lippmann] wrote to "ECC" [Edward C. Carter]&mdash;head of the [[Attorney General's list|Communist-front]] "[[American Russian Institute]]" and [[Institute of Pacific Relations]] ("a vehicle used by the Communists to orientate American far eastern policies toward Communist objectives," according to a unanimous report of the bipartisan [[Senate Judiciary Committee]])<ref>[http://ia700309.us.archive.org/31/items/instituteofpacif1952unit/instituteofpacif1952unit_bw.pdf S. Rpt. 2050, 82d Cong., 2d sess., Serial 11574], Report of the Committee on the Judiciary Pursuant to S. Res. 366, 1952, p. 225 (PDF p. 233)</ref>&mdash;urging "cooperation with the European revolutionaries and the Soviet Union in their attempt to build a socialist Europe as a nucleus for a world socialist order, with the obvious corollary of the establishment of socialism in this country."<ref>Walter Lippmann to Edward C. Carter, June 10, 1940, p. 5 (PDF p. 100), FBI file: [http://www.education-research.org/PDFs/IPR54.11.pdf Institute of Pacific Relations, Section 54, Part 11], pp. 96-101</ref>

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Until 1943, Lippmann's secretary was [[Mary Price]], a [http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1943/8jun_dir_courier.pdf Soviet agent].<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/29apr_recruits.pdf 588 New York to Moscow, 29 April 1944]; cf. [http://ia700308.us.archive.org/16/items/instituteofpacif02unit/instituteofpacif02unit_bw.pdf Institute of Pacific Relations Hearings, Part 2], Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, 82d Cong., 1st Sess. (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1951), p. 406 (PDF p. 62); [[#refRomerstein01|Romerstein, Breindel 2001]]: 439 and [[#refHK99|Haynes, Klehr 1999]]: 99</ref> Lippmann himself was a Soviet intelligence source as late as 1944.<ref>[http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/venona/1944/9sep_lippman_views_churchill_roosevelt.pdf 1289 KGB New York to Moscow, 9 September 1944]</ref> According to Eric Alterman, a [http://www.thenation.com/directory/bios/eric_alterman columnist] and [http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation blogger] for ''The Nation'', Lippmann "offered much more [http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=stone_cold_untruths useful information to the Soviets] than [[I.F. Stone|[I.F.] Stone]] ever did."

He has also been highly praised with titles ranging anywhere from "most influential" journalist<ref>{{cite web |last1=Blumenthal|first1=Sydney |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/walter_lippmann_and_american_journalism_today |title=Walter Lippmann and American journalism today |date=31 October 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-02-22/business/9802220064_1_peter-drucker-jack-beatty-books |title=Drucker Gives Lippmann Run As Most Influential Journalist |work=Chicago Tribune |date=1998 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/34278/harry-c-mcpherson-jr/walter-lippmann-and-the-american-century |title=Walter Lippmann and the American Century |date=1980 }}</ref> of the 20th century, to Father of Modern Journalism.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pariser|first1=Eli|title=The Filter Bubble: How the New Personalized Web Is Changing What We Read and How We Think|date=2011|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=0143121235}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Snow|first1=Nancy|title=Information War: American Propaganda, Free Speech and Opinion Control Since 9/11|date=2003|publisher=Seven Stories|location=Canada|isbn=1583225579|pages=30–31}}</ref> James W. Carey, an influential teacher of journalists,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.mit.edu/comm-forum/forums/carey_memoriam2.htm |title=In Memoriam, James W. Carey |date=2006 }}</ref> considered Walter Lippmann's book ''Public Opinion'' as "the founding book of modern journalism" and also "the founding book in American media studies".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schudson |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Schudson |date=2008 |title=The "Lippmann-Dewey Debate" and the Invention of Walter Lippmann as an Anti-Democrat 1985-1996 |journal=International Journal of Communication |volume=2 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Carey |first=James W. |authorlink=James W. Carey |date=March 1987 |title=The Press and the Public Discourse |journal=The Center Magazine |volume=20 }}</ref>

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==Early life==

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Lippmann was born September 23, 1889,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=DBwTBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA965 World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection]</ref> in New York City to Jacob and Daisy Baum Lippmann,<ref>[http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Walter_Lippmann Walter Lippmann]</ref> who were of German/Jewish descent.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UZkC2D6WkHEC&pg=PA190 Political Commentators in the United States in the 20th Century: A Bio-critical Sourcebook]</ref>

==Career==

==Career==

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Lippmann attended Harvard College, where he studied with the leading philosophers of the day, including [[George Santayana]], [[William James]], and [[Graham Wallas]]. His first job was helping muckraker [[Lincoln Steffens]] on Everybody's Magazine. He became active in the [[Socialist party]] and was one of the founding editors of ''[[The New Republic]]'' magazine in 1913.

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Lippmann attended Harvard College, where he studied with the leading philosophers of the day, including [[George Santayana]], [[William James]], and [[Fabian]] Socialist [[Graham Wallas]]. His first job was helping muckraker [[Lincoln Steffens]] on ''Everybody's Magazine''. He became active in the [[Socialist party]] and was one of the founding editors of ''[[The New Republic]]'' magazine in 1913, along with [[Herbert Croly]] and [[Walter Weyl]].

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He agreed with [[Theodore Roosevelt]] that the purpose of diplomacy was not to attempt the impossible but to deal realistically with the existing balance of power. During World War I he was a staff assistant to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, and a special adviser to [[Colonel House]], President [[Woodrow Wilson]]’s top foreign policy advisor. Lippmann helped draft Wilson’s [[Fourteen Points]] in 1918, which became the basis for ending the war and restructuring world affairs at the [[Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, where he was advisor to House. In the 1920s he was editorial page editor of the influential Democratic newspaper the ''New York World'', and sharply criticized the foreign policy of Harding and Coolidge for ignoring the League of Nations. When the ''World'' closed in 1931 he started his newspaper column ''Today and Tomorrow'' for the Republican paper the ''New York Herald Tribune''. It was syndicated to 200 dailies across the country and continued until 1967.

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For his work he received a total of three awards: Two Pulitzers and one Peabody. He won a [[Pulitzer prize]] in 1958 for "Special Awards and Citations;<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/walter-lippmann-0 Walter Lippmann of New York Herald Tribune]</ref> in 1961 he won a Peabody award for "Television Contribution to International Understanding";<ref>[http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/institutional-award-cbs-television-for-contributions-to-international-under Institutional Award: CBS Television and Walter Lippman for Television Contribution to International Understanding]</ref> and he won a second Pulitzer prize in 1962 for "International Reporting", because of a high-profile interview with [[Soviet]] dictator [[Nikita Khrushchev]].<ref>[http://www.pulitzer.org/winners/walter-lippmann Walter Lippmann of New York Herald Tribune Syndicate]</ref>

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He agreed with [[Theodore Roosevelt]] that the purpose of diplomacy not to attempt the impossible but to deal realistically with the existing balance of power. During World War I he was a staff assistant to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, and a special adviser to [[Colonel House]], President [[Woodrow Wilson]]’s top foreign policy advisor. Lippmann helped draft Wilson’s [[Fourteen Points]] in 1918, which became the basis for ending the war and restructuring world affairs at the [[Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, where he was advisor to House. In the 1920s he was editor of the influential newspaper the ''New York World'', and sharply criticized the foreign policy of Harding and Coolidge for ignoring the League of Nations.

==Public Opinion==

==Public Opinion==

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In the 1920s philosopher [[John Dewey]] (1859-1952) engaged in a major debate with Lippmann on the impact of the technology on democracy. Both agreed that the communications revolution had created a large and more complex world, that political and social institutions had not kept pace with the changes wrought by technology, that the masses were more susceptible to propaganda, and that modernity threatened democracy. Their critiques diverge on solutions, especially whether or not democracy could be saved. While Lippmann saw the public as unredeemable and subject to mass manipulation, Dewey thought that more public involvement in socio-political affairs was needed and that tools of mass communication could be used to this end.<ref> Walter Lippmann, ''Public Opinion'' (1922) and ''The Phantom Public'' (1925); John Dewey, ''The Public and Its Problems'' (1927)</ref>

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In the 1920s philosopher [[John Dewey]] (1859-1952) engaged in a major debate with Lippmann on the impact of the technology on democracy. Both agreed that the communications revolution had created a large and more complex world, that political and social institutions had not kept pace with the changes wrought by technology, that the masses were more susceptible to propaganda, and that modernity threatened democracy. Their critiques diverge on solutions, especially whether or not democracy could be saved. While Lippmann saw the public as unredeemable and subject to mass manipulation, Dewey thought that more public involvement in socio-political affairs was needed and that tools of mass communication could be used to this end.<ref>Walter Lippmann, ''Public Opinion'' (1922) and ''The Phantom Public'' (1925); John Dewey, ''The Public and Its Problems'' (1927)</ref>

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==Manipulation of Public Opinion==

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In 1922, Walter Lippmann published his book "Public Opinion" <ref>Walter Lippmann, ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6456 Public Opinion]''</ref> which at the time presented a major milestone in marking the ability of a journalist to manipulate their readers and viewers. The phrase "Manufacture of Consent" is directly attributed to Walter Lippmann <ref>p. 13, Noam Chomsky, ''Letters from Lexington: Reflections on Propaganda'', Paradigm Publishers 2004.</ref> from his book "Public Opinion". He wrote:<ref>Walter Lippmann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=eLobn4WwbLUC&pg=PA248]'', p. 248</ref>

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<blockquote>

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That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages, and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough.

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</blockquote>

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Lippmann went very far into detail of these methods of manipulation. He gives uses of keywords, for the use of tapping into people's stereotypes, and the use of editorials afterwards to make sure that the pre-determined outcome is assured. He fully understood the opportunities for manipulation and detailed the process. Here is one such example:<ref>Walter Lippmann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=eLobn4WwbLUC&pg=PA355]'', p. 355</ref>

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<blockquote>

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It is a problem of provoking feeling in the reader, of inducing him to feel a sense of personal identification with the stories he is reading. News which does not offer this opportunity to introduce oneself into the struggle which it depicts cannot appeal to a wide audience. The audience must participate in the news, much as it participates in the drama, by personal identification. Just as everyone holds his breath when the heroine is in danger, as he helps Babe Ruth swing his bat, so in subtler form the reader enters into the news. In order that he shall enter he must find a familiar foothold in the story, and this is supplied to him by the use of stereotypes. They tell him that if an association of plumbers is called a "combine" it is appropriate to develop his hostility; if it is called a "group of leading business men" the cue is for a favorable reaction.

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</blockquote>

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<blockquote>

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It is in a combination of these elements that the power to create opinion resides. Editorials reinforce.

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</blockquote>

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To this day, the aggressive use of keywords and stereotypes is widely used by the journalist establishment.

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==Politics==

==Politics==

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In 1937 Lippmann attacked President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to reorganize the Supreme Court, which reflected Lippmann's growing criticism of the New Deal. Although he originally supported Roosevelt's policies, Lippmann felt that the president was placing the American constitutional system in danger by setting illegal precedents.<ref> Frederic Krome, "From Liberal Philosophy to Conservative Ideology? Walter Lippmann's Opposition to the New Deal" ''Journal of American Culture'' 1987 10(1): 57-64. 0191-1813 </ref>

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In 1937 Lippmann attacked President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to reorganize the Supreme Court, which reflected Lippmann's growing criticism of the New Deal. Although he originally supported Roosevelt's policies, Lippmann felt that the president was placing the American constitutional system in danger by setting illegal precedents.<ref>Frederic Krome, "From Liberal Philosophy to Conservative Ideology? Walter Lippmann's Opposition to the New Deal" ''Journal of American Culture'' 1987 10(1): 57-64. 0191-1813</ref> Despite this, however, he also was the one who advocated that Roosevelt assume emergency powers in the first place.<ref>http://progressingamerica.blogspot.com/2012/04/this-explains-lot-about-modern.html</ref>

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==Cold War==

==Cold War==

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Lippmann is accredited with popularizing the phrase "[[Cold War]]" to describe the breakdown of the [[World War II]] [[Allied Powers]] alliance and the growing post-war tensions. Although he opposed Communism<ref> The [[Jacob Golos|Golos spy ring]] used [[Mary Price]], his secretary, to garner information on items Lippmann chose not to write about or names of Lippmann's sources, often not carried in stories, but of use to the [[MGB]].</ref> he adopted a "realist" position in foreign policy in the 1940s and opposed idealistic goals such as [[Wilsonianism]]-- even though he had been a leading advocate of idealism in 1917-1918. He was distrustful of globalism or excessive involvements around the world. In the 1960s he was an articulate opponent on the [[War in Vietnam]], saying it weakened America's ability to fight the true Soviet adversary.<ref> Fredrik Logevall, "First Among Critics: Walter Lippmann and the Vietnam War." ''Journal of American-East Asian Relations'' 1995 4 (4): 351-375.</ref>

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Lippmann is accredited with popularizing the phrase "[[Cold War]]" to describe the breakdown of the [[World War II]] [[Allied Powers]] alliance and the growing post-war tensions. Although he opposed Communism<ref>The [[Jacob Golos|Golos spy ring]] used [[Mary Price]], his secretary, to garner information on items Lippmann chose not to write about or names of Lippmann's sources, often not carried in stories, but of use to the [[MGB]].</ref> he adopted a "realist" position in foreign policy in the 1940s and opposed idealistic goals such as [[Wilsonianism]]—even though he had been a leading advocate of idealism in 1917-1918. He was distrustful of globalism or excessive involvements around the world. In the 1960s he was an articulate opponent of the [[Vietnam War]], saying it weakened America's ability to fight the true Soviet adversary.<ref>Fredrik Logevall, "First Among Critics: Walter Lippmann and the Vietnam War." ''Journal of American-East Asian Relations'' 1995 4 (4): 351-375.</ref>

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==Conservatism==

==Conservatism==

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Starting as a Socialist, Lippmann moved right through most of his life, becoming a conservative in the 1930s and an advocate of [[Natural Law]]<ref> ''Religion, Politics, and the Higher Learning'', Morton White, [[Harvard University]] Press, 1959 p.112</ref>.

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Starting as a Socialist, Lippmann moved right through most of his life, becoming a conservative in the 1930s and an advocate of [[Natural Law]].<ref>''Religion, Politics, and the Higher Learning'', Morton White, [[Harvard University]] Press, 1959 p.112</ref>

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==Death and Legacy==

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He passed away on December 14, 1974. The Lippmann House at the Nieman School of Journalism at Harvard is named after him. His influence was unprecedented<ref>[http://www.prismjournal.org/fileadmin/Praxis/Files/Journal_Files/2010_general/Garcia.pdf Rethinking Walter Lippmann’s legacy in the history of public relations], ('''PDF''')</ref> in areas of both public relations as well as journalism, and his influence can be seen everywhere<ref name=remembered>[http://harpers.org/blog/2007/10/walter-lippmann-remembered/ Walter Lippmann, Remembered]</ref> in the field of journalism.<ref name=remembered />

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==Quotes==

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* "Men have to substitute purpose for tradition: and that is, I believe, the profoundest change that has ever taken place in human history."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fJgqAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA266 Drift and Mastery: An Attempt to Diagnose the Current Unrest]</ref>

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==Works==

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* ''A Preface to Politics'', (1913)

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* ''Drift and Mastery'', (1914)

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* ''The Stakes of Diplomacy'', (1915)

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* ''The Political Scene'', (1919)

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* ''Liberty and the News'', (1920)

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* ''[https://archive.org/details/LippmannMerzATestoftheNews A Test of the News]'', with Charles Merz (1920)

Latest revision as of 19:25, 12 July 2017

Walter Lippmann[4] (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974), was an influential[5] American journalist and commentator.

Lippmann was a prominent socialist from his youth, becoming president of the Harvard Socialist Club and a member of the Executive Committee of the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. He graduated from Harvard in 1910, but took his socialism with him into his journalism, joining the Socialist Party and the Socialist Press Club.[6] More than 20 years later, with the election of President Franklin Roosevelt, Lippmann apparently lost faith in the Constitution, telling FDR, "The situation is critical, Franklin. You may have no alternative but to assume dictatorial powers";[7] in his column, Lippmann added that the use of "'dictatorial powers,' if that is the name for it—is essential."[8]

Lippmann retained his socialist sympathies even in the midst of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, when "WJL" [Walter J. Lippmann] wrote to "ECC" [Edward C. Carter]—head of the Communist-front "American Russian Institute" and Institute of Pacific Relations ("a vehicle used by the Communists to orientate American far eastern policies toward Communist objectives," according to a unanimous report of the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee)[9]—urging "cooperation with the European revolutionaries and the Soviet Union in their attempt to build a socialist Europe as a nucleus for a world socialist order, with the obvious corollary of the establishment of socialism in this country."[10]

He has also been highly praised with titles ranging anywhere from "most influential" journalist[13][14][15] of the 20th century, to Father of Modern Journalism.[16][17] James W. Carey, an influential teacher of journalists,[18] considered Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion as "the founding book of modern journalism" and also "the founding book in American media studies".[19][20]

He agreed with Theodore Roosevelt that the purpose of diplomacy was not to attempt the impossible but to deal realistically with the existing balance of power. During World War I he was a staff assistant to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, and a special adviser to Colonel House, President Woodrow Wilson’s top foreign policy advisor. Lippmann helped draft Wilson’s Fourteen Points in 1918, which became the basis for ending the war and restructuring world affairs at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, where he was advisor to House. In the 1920s he was editorial page editor of the influential Democratic newspaper the New York World, and sharply criticized the foreign policy of Harding and Coolidge for ignoring the League of Nations. When the World closed in 1931 he started his newspaper column Today and Tomorrow for the Republican paper the New York Herald Tribune. It was syndicated to 200 dailies across the country and continued until 1967.

For his work he received a total of three awards: Two Pulitzers and one Peabody. He won a Pulitzer prize in 1958 for "Special Awards and Citations;[24] in 1961 he won a Peabody award for "Television Contribution to International Understanding";[25] and he won a second Pulitzer prize in 1962 for "International Reporting", because of a high-profile interview with Soviet dictator Nikita Khrushchev.[26]

Public Opinion

In the 1920s philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) engaged in a major debate with Lippmann on the impact of the technology on democracy. Both agreed that the communications revolution had created a large and more complex world, that political and social institutions had not kept pace with the changes wrought by technology, that the masses were more susceptible to propaganda, and that modernity threatened democracy. Their critiques diverge on solutions, especially whether or not democracy could be saved. While Lippmann saw the public as unredeemable and subject to mass manipulation, Dewey thought that more public involvement in socio-political affairs was needed and that tools of mass communication could be used to this end.[27]

Manipulation of Public Opinion

In 1922, Walter Lippmann published his book "Public Opinion" [28] which at the time presented a major milestone in marking the ability of a journalist to manipulate their readers and viewers. The phrase "Manufacture of Consent" is directly attributed to Walter Lippmann [29] from his book "Public Opinion". He wrote:[30]

That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages, and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough.

Lippmann went very far into detail of these methods of manipulation. He gives uses of keywords, for the use of tapping into people's stereotypes, and the use of editorials afterwards to make sure that the pre-determined outcome is assured. He fully understood the opportunities for manipulation and detailed the process. Here is one such example:[31]

It is a problem of provoking feeling in the reader, of inducing him to feel a sense of personal identification with the stories he is reading. News which does not offer this opportunity to introduce oneself into the struggle which it depicts cannot appeal to a wide audience. The audience must participate in the news, much as it participates in the drama, by personal identification. Just as everyone holds his breath when the heroine is in danger, as he helps Babe Ruth swing his bat, so in subtler form the reader enters into the news. In order that he shall enter he must find a familiar foothold in the story, and this is supplied to him by the use of stereotypes. They tell him that if an association of plumbers is called a "combine" it is appropriate to develop his hostility; if it is called a "group of leading business men" the cue is for a favorable reaction.

It is in a combination of these elements that the power to create opinion resides. Editorials reinforce.

To this day, the aggressive use of keywords and stereotypes is widely used by the journalist establishment.

Politics

In 1937 Lippmann attacked President Franklin D. Roosevelt's plan to reorganize the Supreme Court, which reflected Lippmann's growing criticism of the New Deal. Although he originally supported Roosevelt's policies, Lippmann felt that the president was placing the American constitutional system in danger by setting illegal precedents.[32] Despite this, however, he also was the one who advocated that Roosevelt assume emergency powers in the first place.[33]

Cold War

Lippmann is accredited with popularizing the phrase "Cold War" to describe the breakdown of the World War IIAllied Powers alliance and the growing post-war tensions. Although he opposed Communism[34] he adopted a "realist" position in foreign policy in the 1940s and opposed idealistic goals such as Wilsonianism—even though he had been a leading advocate of idealism in 1917-1918. He was distrustful of globalism or excessive involvements around the world. In the 1960s he was an articulate opponent of the Vietnam War, saying it weakened America's ability to fight the true Soviet adversary.[35]

Conservatism

Starting as a Socialist, Lippmann moved right through most of his life, becoming a conservative in the 1930s and an advocate of Natural Law.[36]

Death and Legacy

He passed away on December 14, 1974. The Lippmann House at the Nieman School of Journalism at Harvard is named after him. His influence was unprecedented[37] in areas of both public relations as well as journalism, and his influence can be seen everywhere[38] in the field of journalism.[38]

Quotes

"Men have to substitute purpose for tradition: and that is, I believe, the profoundest change that has ever taken place in human history."[39]

↑The Golos spy ring used Mary Price, his secretary, to garner information on items Lippmann chose not to write about or names of Lippmann's sources, often not carried in stories, but of use to the MGB.